


Hush

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 11:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17223272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Blink helps Mush deal with an infected wound.





	Hush

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Blink knew that Mush had been in the fight about a week back, but not the extent of it. Bruises were easy to hide under winter clothes, and a new scarf was more likely to be seen as a sign of good fortune and sudden financial prosperity than a way of keeping secrets. Besides, Mush never kept secrets. He knew Blink, and trusted him completely. At least Blink had assumed that this was the case, until now.

There was a cut, thick and deep under Mush’s collar bone, that he’d finally unwrapped for Blink, to show him. Moss green wool stuck to the wound, and there was a sheen of sweat across his face. “I need help,” was what Mush had said, to draw Blink from his bed in the middle of the night to the lodging house bathroom. The scarf hadn’t even come off right away. They’d had to soak it in water to get it to unstick from Mush’s neck, and even then they’d had to pull.

“Thought I could take care of it,” Mush said.

“Yeah? Well, good job.”

Mush winced. Though Blink’s words were harsh, his hands were gentle, as he took Mush’s face between them. He was feverish, that was for sure. Blink remembered how, when he lost his eye, it hadn’t been the injury itself that almost killed him, but the infection that set in after. He’d been delirious, so much so that when somebody finally found him and tried to help him, he’d bitten his hand like a cornered dog. At least Mush seemed far from that. He was very quiet, and leaned into Blink’s touch.

Up until maybe two years ago, Mush had believed that the reason people touched your face when they thought you might have a fever, was to draw the heat out through their hands. He’d only discovered he was wrong one day, because Les had been pale and coughing, and he’d blithely offered to take on his sickness, since he was bigger and stronger. Dave had this certain face that he always pulled, when he was genuinely surprised by something that one of them didn’t know, and this very specific way of settling after, a quiet way of explaining. As for Mush, he had a way of believing, which was why Blink had to say something.

“It’s bad,” Blink decided. “But not that bad. We’ve gotta wash it out is all, and maybe you shouldn’t sell tomorrow. What’d they do anyway? Try and stab you?”

“They was offering me a job,” Mush said, with a short, bitter laugh, that didn’t sound much like him. “Y'know, how with Hearst, he’s been hiring kids to scare other kids into selling his papes and…”

Blink did know. Everybody did, and the fact of the matter was, all it had done was make the World’s newsies dig in their toes and refuse to switch sides, as if Pulitzer was a noble leader who deserved their loyalty, instead of rotten and greedy to the core. Usually Hearst’s goons only went after the little kids, though, especially the ones who sold alone. Mush should have been outside of their sphere of interest.

“Where do they get off going after you? I’ll go after them.”

“They thought maybe I could do what they does.”

“You’re not going to do nothing for a while thanks to them,” Blink said, before he could think about it, replace his growing sense of dread with a more optimistic prognosis. “And thanks to you keeping your trap shut, and not telling no one you had a problem. What am I supposed to think about that?”

Blink turned from Mush, scowling. He went to the sink, wet a cloth.

“Stop,” Mush said, when Blink started to come at him with the cloth, and Blink did. His arm hung at his side, a little helplessly. “Calm down first,” Mush ordered. Easier said than done, but though Mush was patient with Blink’s rages, Blink knew damn well that he’d never tolerate them being directed at him, just the same as he knew he could never forgive himself if he turned to full force of his anger towards Mush. He wasn’t even angry, really, not exactly at least. He was worried and scared, frustrated at being left in the dark, but it seemed like feelings always got muddled in his mind, and came out in the form of useless fury. He turned away and faced the wall, and though his fists were clenched, he didn’t hit anything. He breathed. When he turned back to Mush, he was cleaning out the cut himself, his mouth set in a thin line as he leaned on the counter for support. It was one of those things where it was hard to tell if he was making it better or worse. It looked worse, but Blink hoped that it was just because he was succeeding at getting the bad things in the cut out of it.

“Let me help?”

Mush nodded, handed the cloth shakily over to Blink, let Blink guide him so that he was sitting on the counter.

“Those guys thought I was somebody who could hurt somebody,” Mush said. “Guess I didn’t wanna talk about that. I didn’t want the idea goin’ around.”

“Nobody who knows you thinks you’d hurt nobody who doesn’t deserve it.” Blink said.

“Not that many people know me.”

“Well I does.”

Mush let out a sound that was something between a sigh and a hiss, as Blink’s hand and cloth made contact with the cut.

“Which,” Mush gripped the counter as he spoke, “Is why I should’ve just talked to you to begin wth.”

Blink shrugged, and continued his work. “You had your reasons. I’d rather next time you did.”


End file.
